Mr Nakid's Account

Waterbury Republican

The first I knew that the boat was in danger was when one of the officers came running thru (sic) the steerage and told us to go on deck as fast as we could, as the ship was sinking.

My wife and I had been sleeping soundly and did not feel any jar. We could see by the slope of the floor that the boat was going down and not waiting to put on any more clothes we rushed up to the deck with the baby. We had to go up three storeys before we came to where the boats were. At that time the bow of the boat was way down in the water and the stern was sticking up at a slant, way out of the water...

The boat we got into was one of the last to leave the ship and it left in such a hurry that there were only about twenty on board. Six of these were men to row the boat and there was one other man. The sailors saw my wife who had only her nightgown on, and me with the baby, and motioned for her to take a seat in the boat. She did so. I helped her over the side of the boat and was going to get in with her when one of the sailors pushed me back and motioned for me to stay behind. I pointed to the baby and he took it away from me and gave it to my wife. The baby started to cry and reached out her hands to me, but even then the sailors would not let me get in. Just then I saw another boat nearby being loaded preparatory to going in the water. It was nearly full of women when I saw a man try to get in. The sailors held him back but he managed to break thru (sic) them and jumped into the boat. When he stood up a sailor pulled out a revolver and shot him. The man's body tumbled over the side of the boat and that was the last I saw of him. I saw it would not be well to take a chance like that and waited. The baby pleaded with the sailors to let me get into the boat but they would not allow it. There was plenty of room there for more., and as there were no more women to get in, I determined to take a chance. . As the boat was being lowered I jumped into it and fell flat on my face. The women covered me over with their skirts and I laid there. There had been so much confusion in casting off that the sailors did not see me jump and of course did not see me afterwards...